Trouble In Paradise

.....It all began about a year ago, although it seems more like ten. The management of our Allotment Association rented a garden to a woman. It didn't take long before the woman's behaviour was noticed to be extremely abnormal. Our gardening club is well organised and had rules for everyone to follow and there are consequences if they are broken.

The lady broke so many of the rules, but the administrators of the club just kept giving her one more chance. There was talk of stealing, and of her taking the club's carts and ranging far and wide throughout the city to collect things from trash piles and building sites and bringing it back to her garden.

Finally she was caught red-handed stealing planks from another gardener and the management had then had enough and withdrew her membership and told her that she must leave and that she was not to come back. She had three months to clear out her stuff and get the garden in order for the next renter. That never happened and she kept returning even to the point that the police had to remove her. She received a restraining order and was no longer allowed to set foot on the complex. After violating the order and being removed by the police for a third time, the people running the club decided that she would keep coming back as long as her shed was there. They began breaking her shed down and cleaning up. After the first day, a mail was sent to all the members to come and help with the clean-up of this garden.

Fine then--this person was not normal and had several mental issues, but what we discovered during the clean-up was simply astounding. She was a compulsive collector. Sort of like a pack rat...she just brought so much stuff to the garden and then stowed it away in and around her shed.

When going through all the things that she had abandoned we noticed a framed picture amongst the pile of stuff and several of the people there recognized it from the wall of the the clubhouse. I think that the woman could not help herself from simply taking things.

So then, the first day we broke the shed down with great difficulty and then we had to cart all the stuff up to the clubhouse parking lot and deposit it all in the skip. The distance was about 200 yards on the narrow paths. It was no easy job pulling the carts and pushing the wheel barrows full of junk. Two big skips where not enough but they put a dent in the finances of our allotment organisation.

The crew began disassembling the shed:

The shed is mostly down:

At the end of the first day, the skip was full but there was much, much more to be removed.

The stuff just kept coming and a second skip was rented.
Eventually that was full as well.

Full....but there was still more.

On a positive note -- since the clean-up a week ago, the lady has not been spotted on the complex any-more.

I can tell you guys that I cannot recall the last time that I was so sore from work. I had sore everything after the couple of days' work.

No matter how careful the vetting process, any group eventually gets a bad apple or two. I'm so sorry this happened to your allotment group, who seem to be a lot of very nice people and excellent gardeners.
Your soreness will go away, as has the problem woman. You will recover, she won't.

Oh horrors, Sjoerd. Glad you all pitched in and got it cleaned up. I have seen a few episodes of a hoarder show and it actually makes me anxious. I can't watch them. I feel for everyone involved. this is a mental issue. We had a family member who was a hoarder. you cannot imagine what it is like to live around one. we were not EVER invited to the house. never. it was an ugly mess. this person passed away and now the spouse has done nothing but clean it for months on end and the secrets.. oh my the secrets that were kept from the spouse. like almost 100,000.00 of debt in the form of school loans for the children. you can't imagine the mental mess of a hoarder.

Hi TONI--We don't get the Hoarder program over here...but that is one of the psychological problems that woman has. It is a difficult situation---one can have great pity for the person and at the same time be furious at the anti-social behaviour. It is not a comfortable feeling to have for another person.

JANE--you have hit the nail on the head (again).

CAROLYN--You are right about not grasping the unbelievable character of hoarding individuals. Of course I know it exists, but when I saw what that woman had amassed in her tiny garden shed...well, it defied comprehension.

CAYUGA--You are so right about her hoarding and transporting 24/7. That is exactly what she was doing...day and night. Everyone saw her bringing the stuff, but the woman never removed it from her shed to use it. It was never seen again until the clean-up. She used the wheelbarrows and carts from the complex to haul the stuff and go on searches around the city. She also stole grocery carts and used those. I returned them to the stores though.
I really appreciate your kind words.